The Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) board on Friday unanimously approved the renewal of the anti-pollution permit for the thermal treatment facility in Marsa operated by WasteServ Malta Ltd.
In a statement, the authority said the application was approved during a public meeting following a process that included consultation with a number of statutory consultees as well as a public consultation.
The Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control permit, originally issued in 2007 is for WasteServ to operate its incinerator for the incineration of abattoir, clinical, hazardous and non-hazardous waste from the Civil Abattoir in Marsa.
ERA said the IPPC permit covers the continued operations of the installation at Marsa whose main activity involves the incineration of animal by-products and hazardous waste.
“The permit takes into account the holistic environmental performance of the plant and ascertains that the operations are undertaken in line with best available techniques that are available for such operations and any required improvements are carried out in line with these standards,” ERA said.
It noted that the authority has seen a “drastic decrease” in complaints on the operation of the facility, with no complaints registered so far this year.
The integrated permit takes into consideration all the aspects of the operations. These include emissions, discharges, waste management, the monitoring of and the monitoring of pollutants prior to release into the environment. The proposal approved includes measures to improve certain operational aspects of the site to further reduce the impacts on the environment, ERA said.
The Marsa incinerator hit the headlines in September 2019 when the Nationalist Party claimed that fumes being emitted from the facility were making workers ill.
It had resulted that an employee at the incinerator facilities fell sick and had to be treated at a health clinic. WasteServ Malta had confirmed the incident but denied claims that there had been two other similar incidents.
Sources had said sick leave at the facility was on the increase and a number of employees contracted to work for Wasteserv were refusing to work at the incinerator.
Plans to build a new incinerator in Magħtab will have to be reopened for public consultation after ERA last month confirmed a conflict of interest in the project.
ERA acknowledged that an environmental impact assessment for the project had been drafted by the CEO of a prominent waste management company. The EIA was drawn up by Greenpak CEO and environmental consultant Mario Schembri and had been screened by the regulator.
Concerns about the potential conflict of interest were originally flagged by ADPD chairperson Carmel Cacopardo during a press conference in October of last year.
Cacopardo had also noted that one of ERA's board members, marine biologist Alan Deidun, was also involved in the EIA process. Deidun had subsequently stated that he would recuse himself from any decision to be taken about EIAs in which he was involved.
The Magħtab incinerator is part of the government’s push for a total revamp of Malta's waste management processes, which lag far behind those in other EU states.